Cortona Beef steak Festival 2017

Everything is ready for the 58th edition of the great Tuscan food summer event

From 14 August 2017 to 15 August 2017

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If you are in Tuscany during Ferragosto (August 15th) and especially if you are near Arezzo you must not miss one of the oldest events of the summer gastronomic tradition in Tuscany: the Cortona Beef Steak Festival. It is a true paradise for lovers of one of the most famous and tastiest dishes of local cuisine. Here you can be sure, the cut and the quality of the meat will be perfect and the preparation will be done in the best way.

15th August Tuscan festivals are many indeed, but the Beef steak Festival in Cortona, the wonderful Tuscan village, can really be called the 'record festival'! This year it reaches its 58th edition. Industrial quantities of succulent Cortona Chianina meat are served, which in one edition reached as many as 4500 pieces. The steaks are cooked on the biggest grill in Italy, 14 metres long! In short, you can be sure that you will not be left empty-handed... all the more so that all you eat, as per tradition, will be watered with good wine. A perfect way to enjoy the delicacies of the Cortona ‘Sagra della bistecca’, but also to enhance the cheerfulness of your table companions!

Why not just a simple meat festival but precisely the Cortona Bistecca Chianina beef steak festival? Because this kind of meat is one of the most precious and appreciated at a national and international level. It is obvious that the queen of the whole event will be Chianina meat, an autochthonous cattle breed bred in Val di Chiana since Roman times. Why is the meat of these huge white cows so famous? First of all because it tastes delicious: it has an unmistakable flavour that has no equal. The exquisiteness of the meat stems mainly from two factors: the low amount of fat and the hanging. The latter is an aging technique that, by letting the meat to rest for a period of 10-15 days, makes it particularly tender. In short, in Cortona you can taste the best steak there is!

The 2017 Cortona Beef Steak Festival will be held in the beautiful location of the Giardini del Parterre, a wonderful terrace from which you can enjoy the breath-taking views of Val di Chiana. How do you get there? It’s easy: leave your car at Parcheggio Santo Spirito and in ten minutes you will arrive... just follow the smell of grilled meat! Once you reach this Tuscany summer festival the first step is to find a place at the long tables and a waiter will come to take your order. Bear in mind that at the Chianina meat festival you do not only eat steak! There are also the ‘costolecci’, namely the pork spareribs, sausages, focaccias with ham, bean sprouts, fresh salad with tomatoes and fruit... in short, nothing is missing! The ‘basic kit’ of the Sagra della Bistecca Cortona consists of a steak of 700 to 800 grams of weight served with vegetables, bread, fruit and a bottle of wine: either a good Chianti or Cortona doc wine. There’s more: along the entire perimeter of the Cortona parterre the classic market of regional and local products is set up. Here you can find other delicacies to eat on the spot or to take home as a souvenir. Some examples? The delicious pecorino of Pienza, salami from Siena, jams and marmalades, the products from the Arezzo Hills such as olive oil, 'cantucci' biscuits and of course a wide selection of wines.

In Cortona the Beef Steak Festival 2017 is also synonymous with cheerfulness and fun: in fat, there will be an orchestra for music entertainment and dancing. Partly to burn some calories, partly for the wine, at a certain point tourists, foreigners and local Cortona inhabitants throw themselves onto the dance floor, everyone improvising their own moves...It doesn’t matter how: luckily we are not at Strictly come Dancing!

The Beef Steak Festival 2017 can also be a great opportunity to visit not only the splendid Cortona but also the surrounding area where there is truly lots to explore: Arezzo, Val di Chiana, Arezzo Hills, Montepulciano and its wine and also the Franciscan atmosphere of Eremo le Celle. So, if you want to discover the area and especially if you are a fan of food and wine, the 58th Cortona Beef Steak Festival is an absolute must: do let this opportunity slip!

Waste no time and organize your Ferragosto (15th August) in Tuscany by choosing one of our hotels in Cortona. If the culinary excellence is what you are looking for, take a look at our Food and Wine Tours: between freshly-made pasta, sweet foods and wine you will surely find something to arouse your curiosity and stimulate your appetite!